Jade Empire: Special Edition Q&A

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Bioware's Diarmid Clarke talks chop.

By Patrick Kolan

Sure, it came out in 2005 on the original Xbox, but come on now - it's Bioware we're talking about, and they don't do things in half-measures. If you've been keen to know what's so special about Jade Empire's rebirth on the PC, Senior Producer Diarmid Clarke from Bioware gives you all the reasons you could possibly need to put down the dough on their latest release.

Our Q&A covers everything from the extensive face-lift the game received since the Xbox release, to the new combat techniques and the all-new playable character. Read on, young grasshopper.

IGN: Jade Empire was very well received on Xbox, what do you think were its biggest strengths and how well do they translate to PC?

Diarmid Clarke: I think three of the best things about the original Jade were a) how amazing it looked on the Xbox, b) the rich story and environments, and c) the characters that you got to play. The original story is filled with dark secrets and surprises, so we've stayed faithful to that in the PC version, but you will be blown away when you see what we've done with the graphics. They look absolutely stunning on PC. And how cool is it that you get to play as a martial arts master? The fights on Jade Xbox were pretty sweet, but the PC gives you whole new ways to kick butt.

IGN: Tell us about the visual changes that have been made for the Special Edition of Jade Empire. How much work was involved in ensuring the art assets would look good in the much higher resolutions available to PC gamers?

The engine has been given a significant lick of paint since the original Xbox release.

Diarmid Clarke: Would you believe we actually upgraded hundreds of textures by hand, right down to the blades of grass? A lot of people are going to be playing this game on high-end PCs in HD, so we had to take the time to make sure it looked great on those machines. But we made the graphics scalable so it'll still look great even on lower-end PCs.

IGN: Gaming graphics technology has come a long way in the last couple of years. What changes have been made to the core engine to ensure the game looks current?

Diarmid Clarke: The great thing about working from the original Jade material is how detailed the original art is. This meant upscaling for the PC was a lot easier than it could have been. From there we looked at each texture and quite literally updated things, such as blades of grass, so that they looked really good in high resolutions on today's machines.

IGN: There are two new combat styles in the Special Edition. Can you outline what they are and how they change the dynamics of the fighting system?

Diarmid Clarke: The two new styles are Iron Palm and Viper. Iron Palm is a sumo-inspired style that's rather slow but it's also one of the most powerful styles. You attack with bull rushes and palm strikes that can really send your opponents flying. Viper is the opposite: it does very little damage but it's incredibly fast. It poisons your enemies so they actually bleed damage over time. Strategically, you might want to use Viper on multiple opponents to get them dying while you focus on the boss by using Iron Palm.